The Jessie Rose Trip

Listen Up!

by Andrew Jackson on 27.05.09

After tipping The Jessie rose Trip as being one of the best acts at 2008’s ‘In the City’, 4Q invited Jessie back for a more in depth interview and to find out about the band’s debut single release.

The Jessie Rose Trip formed in April 2008 and are already causing a big stir from industry insiders. Clint boon is a big advocate and close admirer of The Jessie Rose Trip stating that, “…this band are going to be massive”.

Along with performing live sessions on Clint Boons XFM show they have also performed live for BBC Radio 6 and BBC Radio Manchester, as well as appearing in numerous publications.

Indeed a lot has happened for this Manchester band, who have only been around for a little less than a year. As Jessie says at the beginning of the interview,
“We are still a very new thing and I’m amazed at how much the band has done already”

They already have two competition wins under their belt. Damon Gough, front man for Badly Drawn Boy, asked them to perform at Noise Festival last November, out of hundreds of bands. A second competition win from XFM, again out of hundreds of performers, will see them jetting off to Los Angeles to record an album in October.

The beginnings of the band started when, Singer/Song writer, Jessie, decided she wanted to do music as a carrier after returning back from studying in Spain and attending Music College in Manchester.

“I didn’t have the confidence to sing and play before I attended college. I was always interested in music, as I was brought up around performing arts. Attending Music College definitely gave me the confidence I needed though.”

Coming from a musical theatre background Jessie was heavily influenced by her mum, who she describes as being a mo town, soul girl, and her dad who is a true rocker. “Those two aspects naturally shine through”, She admits.

But what does the Jessie Rose Trip sound like I here you ask?
A lot of commentators have described the band as a modern take on 1960’s soul linking Jessie with Nina Simone and Lily Allen. Others have described her as the new Amy Winehouse

The backing band is made up from James, on the drums, who brings his own 80’s style solid beats along with Sarah who plays bass and Johnny who plays trumpet. Both of whom come from the Royal Northern College of Music.

Jessie says, “…because they are both classically trained they were a bit too precise and well, too good. We needed to loosen them up a bit for a jazzier feel.”

Jessie, herself, see’s the band as a “…Led Zeplin, Jimi Hendrix experience mixed with soul and mo town.” She is also quick to admit she did go through her grunge stage, “…although this isn’t really reflected through the music we play it did help me get into guitar.”

You’ll have the chance to judge the sound for yourself soon as The Jessie Rose Trip are about to release their first single. “Forever and a Day”, will give The Jessie Rose Trip a chance to reach the charts they deserve. Recorded in London, by legend Jon Kelly, who has previously worked with Kate Bush, Paul McCartney and The Beautiful South to name a few.

If this single is anything like the bands previous songs you can expect soul, jazz, regea and blues colliding with Hendrix riffs and big 80’s upbeat-bopping beats to create an unmatched and innovative fresh sound with powerful vocals from Jessie at the fore front. Phew, I think I’m looking forward to this!

Past successful live shows both here and abroad have seen The Jessie Rose Trip play at the Academy and Night n Day numerous times. The Eurosonic festival in Groningen, in the Netherlands, was a memorable show for Jessie as she recalls,

“…partying the night away on the overnight ferry from Hull to Rotterdam was an adventure in itself, when we arrived we kicked off an amazing evening of UK acts. The audience were great and so enthusiastic and we couldn’t of asked for a better venue. We also got a fab review in NME and were asked to go back to Holland and play at the London Calling festival in Amsterdam this April. All in all pretty amazing!”

Another memorable live gig took place at King Tuts in Glasgow, as Jessie explains,
“…this was one of our best nights ever! We had the fab people from Popmorphic studios near Glasgow come down and do a videoshoot while we played. They brought down a full crew and about 25 cameras to video the gig.”

The video can be viewed on the Jessie rose trip website and Popmorphics website. We will even try and get a copy on the 4Q website.

Fans, and those yet to be soon fans, can catch The Jessie Rose Trip doing live shows to support their single release. The band will be holding their first launch party at the ruby lounge on the 6th May with Mrs. Boons Tea Party and Clint Boon on the decks for an exciting after party. Other live performances will see the band take on London at Nottinghill Arts Club on the 7th May and at Town Bar in Heaton Moor, Stockport for an acoustic set on the 11th May.

So has all this positive response and nonstop gigging in little less than a year brought The Jessie Rose Trip closer to that all important record deal?

Well, there is definitely a lot of noise around Northern parts about the band getting a label. The tabloid newspapers are also punting them, awarding the band with titles such as the Times’ ‘track of the day’ and the Guardian’s ‘new band of the day’. The Guardian even goes so far to say that all the band need now is a good producer. Jessie is aware of the high interest but also knows it may take a bit of time as she explains,

“Columbia records and a few other labels are interested in the band. We know though with the way the current climate is and the economy, it may take a while longer. We’re going to still work hard and stick it out though. Everything takes a lot longer than people think I guess”

Looking into the future, Jessie has a few ideas on how she would like to improve the band in the when the climate does get a bit better,

“I would love to see more brass in the band and even some soul backing singers, especially for live shows. James and Sarah could then concentrate on performing on their instruments and not have to worry about the singing. I think the backing vocals are very important to the music we play”

“I’m also writing all the time and I’m so much happier with what I’m producing at the moment. It’s a bit frustrating because I want to get everything out now for everyone to here. I know the trip to Los Angeles will be a good opportunity to release a lot as I will be producing an album over there.”

It’s clear that Jessie and the band are enjoying what they do and have a unique style that is getting them noticed more and more. With a debut single coming out on the 4th May and a record deal just around the corner you can expect to be hearing a lot more from this band. I’m sure this time next year you yourself will be talking about the girl with incomparable fashion sense, who likes to play the Ukulele and has a knock out jazz filled band.

As Jessie says, “I love everything that I’m doing at the moment and I’m having so much fun. The Jessie Rose Trip is what I want to do now; all that I want to do in the future.”

Single release ‘Forever and a Day’ (including b-side ‘sour grapes’) is available from 4th May on download, c.d and special 7” Vinyl. For more information and gig dates check out:

www.thejessierosetrip.com,
www.myspace.com/thejessierosetrip
www.4qmagazine.co.uk